Vegan Nutella Is Out Now - Here's Where To Buy It

Vegan Nutella was finally announced earlier this year, and the spread is now available on supermarket shelves in select European countries.

Ferrero confirmed back in May that dairy-free Nutella was on the horizon. Rumors had been swirling for some time, after the company trademarked the name “Nutella Plant-Based” in some countries last December.

“At Ferrero we are always scouting and exploring new categories and emerging food trends,” a spokesperson previously said. “By leveraging innovative spirit and decades of expertise of our beloved global brands, we are now preparing to launch Nutella Plant-Based (in a few European countries) starting in autumn 2024. This further addition to the Nutella family will deliver the same unmistakable experience replacing milk with vegetal ingredients, offering a delicious new choice able to welcome even more people into the brand.”

Here’s everything we know about Nutella Plant-Based, what countries you can find it in, and its ingredients.

Where can you buy Nutella Plant-Based?

Ferrero has confirmed that the spread will be rolled out to some European countries over the coming months. It reportedly hit supermarket shelves in Italy, France, and Belgium on Wednesday, September 4.

It’s also expected to launch in Germany in time for next year’s Veganuary, according to the country’s agricultural newspaper Agrarzeitung, which reported the story in August.

Plant-based Nutella will “likely” launch in the German supermarkets Edeka, Rewe, and Kaufland, and will be vegan-certified, rather than just made without animal ingredients.

The news originally came from a LinkedIn post by VéGé CEO Giorgio Santambrogio, who wrote that the group was “happy” to partner with innovative industry friends and added “Nutella is changing, and here is the introduction of Nutella Plant Based,” per Agrarzeitung.

Ferrero, the Italian company that has produced Nutella since 1964, first registered a new plant-based version of the chocolate spread with Germany’s Patent and Trademark Office in December of last year.

Veganuary Deutschland posted about the news on social media and confirmed that Germany would also be getting a vegan version of Ferrero’s popular layered hazelnut wafer product Hanuta, also coinciding with Veganuary 2025.

Will vegan Nutella come to the rest of Europe?

Jars of Nutella on a supermarket shelf — Adobe Stock Nutella is hugely popular allover the world

It’s not yet been confirmed if or when Nutella Plant-Based will roll out to the rest of Europe. There is huge demand for plant-based foods across the continent, however, so it may be that Ferrero expands the launch to cater to this market.

Surveys indicate that around 28 percent of Europeans eat one plant-based alternative per week, and dairy-free milk is the most popular choice.

Germany has the highest rate of plant-based eaters in Europe at 10 percent of the population, with around 30 percent of Germans identifying as flexitarian. A growing body of research indicates that plant-based options are better for human health and the planet, particularly when it comes to milk products like the dairy used in traditional Nutella.

Will vegan Nutella launch in the UK, US, and elsewhere?

A jar of Nutella is sold every 2.5 seconds, and 160 countries consumed 365 million kilos of the stuff – approximately the weight of the Empire State Building- in 2013 alone.

France is the number one consumer of Nutella products, and the country gets through more than 25 percent of the world’s supply every year. (Price cuts have prompted physical fights between shoppers, and one French couple even tried to name their child after the popular spread.)

However, the UK also eats its fair share, and British sales overtook Marmite in 2014 to make Nutella the most popular branded spread in the country. The US isn’t far behind, either, and Statista reported that 11.3 million Americans consumed more than one jar of Nutella peanut butter in 2020. The brand specifically caters to its US audience, and expanded the number of available products with two European favorites in 2023.

While Ferrero has yet to announce exactly when or where its vegan Nutella will be available, its enduring popularity around the world makes it likely that the brand will launch its plant-based product in all of its key markets, including the UK and US.

What will vegan Nutella taste like?

A jar of Nutella, which is soon being released in a plant-based format — Adobe Stock The dairy-free Nutella is said to taste similar to the original

Nutella’s distinctive flavor comes from the blend of hazelnuts, cocoa, and sugar, which is a common combination in Italian sweet treats, baked goods, and chocolates.

Gianduja, a famous Italian variety of hazelnut-flavored chocolate, undoubtedly inspired the first cocoa and hazelnut spreads. By stretching chocolate with around 30 percent hazelnut paste, the gianduja-makers created confectionery with a particularly soft, creamy, and nutty profile, and one that will be familiar to any Nutella fans.

Both gianduja and Nutella were notably created in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, which is famous for its chocolate and hazelnuts.

According to Agrarzeitung, the vegan Nutella will offer a “consistency and taste similar to the classic version.” The plant-based milk powder replacement will reportedly be made from chickpeas and rice syrup. The vegan version will still include the commonplace – but controversial – ingredient palm oil. Palm oil is vegan, but many vegans choose to avoid it due to its environmental and ethical concerns.

The Ferrero spokesperson told PBN: “This further addition to the Nutella family will deliver the same unmistakable experience replacing milk with [vegetable] ingredients, offering a delicious new choice able to welcome even more people into the brand.”

Do other brands already make similar products?

If you can’t wait for vegan Nutella to launch near you, there are already several chocolate and hazelnut-based alternatives available in supermarkets and online.

Vego is an Italian brand specializing in gianduja-inspired chocolate products, just like Nutella, and it makes a vegan spread that even has the same number of ingredients. Its sugar, cocoa, and vanilla are fairly traded, and the spread is completely palm oil-free.

Mr Organic, which is also based in Italy, blends cocoa with hazelnuts grown in the central peninsular region of Lazio. It’s palm oil-free, and is widely available, including at mainstream supermarkets like Waitrose and its online counterpart Ocado.

The UK’s Fabalous makes a unique range of chickpea-based chocolate spreads which the brand says contain 57 percent less sugar and 81 percent more protein than the leading product. Fabalous’s chocolate spreads are Organic and also palm oil-free.

To find out more about plant-based Nutella alternatives, read on here.